Kingsbury Branch Sidings

[locoshed]

I never thought I`d try and model an actual location but I found on interesting track plan for Kingsbury Branch sidings off the Birmingham / Derby mainline (railway signalling and track plans) it just fits what I want to do which is something interesting to operate without trying to model a mainline station and I just about have the space, I`ve set it out roughly not actually showing the branch sidings but I can extend the base boards out into the middle of the garage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any help with info/photos of the area and I would need to find out what the typical traffic would have been on the main line and whether the branch was used for other traffic or did it just serve Baddersley colliery ? and I`m trying to stick to 1959 as I already have a lot of stock to this date

[mr45144]

Bob Essery did some excellent articles on the branch in Model Railways covering operations at about your period; I'm pretty sure that he has revisited it in either Midland or LMS Journal in more recent times. The branch was pretty busy serving not only Baddesley (no r) but also Birch Coppice. I'm not sure at what date Cohens scrapyard opened but it was certainly postwar.

 

http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/11/william_francis.htm will be of interest.

and http://www.steamindex.com/brj/brj6.htm references British Railway Journal 53

Kingsbury branch trip workings. Bob Essery. 161-72.

Some articles contain a major subsidiary theme which may be at least as valuable as the main topic. In this case the subsidiary topic is railway freight traffic, especially coal. Essery argues that freight traffic was in decline before Beeching. Using data from the LMS Handbook of statistics ahows the vast coal traffic which was conveyed in 1938: a total of nearly 230 million tons. At that time both Scotland and Durham were each still producing over 30 million tons and Yorkshire was producing 42.5 million tons. On the LMS receipts from coal (and allied solid fuels) were in excess of £12m and on the LNER and SR they were £12.5m and £5.5m respectively. This very worthy prelde was followed by a description of one specific mineral branch line: that of the Kingsbury branch of the Midland Railway which served Baddesley Colliery, sometimes known as Baxterley Park Colliery. The line was authorised in 1873 and opened on 28 January 1878. Birch Coppice Colliery was also served. The line was steeply graded and this demanded specific regulations.

[Flying Pig]

Looks like an intersting layout. However, the headshunt for trains running to/from the outer running line seems a bit short as I've tried to show on your second picture. Would it be possible to move the whole junction towards the viewer as seen in that photo? I realise this would shift the sidings across but from your first picture it looks like there may be room to do it.

 

[locoshed]

Thanks for the replies I know the up lay by holds 51 wagons and the down 68 so I can use this to gauge the correct length but I`m sure I`ll have to compress something even though I have 21ft, I`ll be using peco code 75 points so I can use a 3 way point to give a bit more room for the headshunt and also the birmingham end goes under a bridge so I can use this to cover up some tight curves at that end and push the whole lot down towards Derby where I can use a much larger radius for the main line and down lay by, and then I need to rearrange the branch sidings to a much shallower angle.

 

old-maps has a good view from 1939

[locoshed]

Moved it all down a bit to give more room for the traffic sidings and the branch now comes off at a better angle,

 

 

 

still don`t know if this is correct for 1959, google earth has some good views with some of these sidings still in place and you can see how the sidings were simplified and extended into the scrap yard from the traffic sidings.

[andyrush]

still don`t know if this is correct for 1959, google earth has some good views with some of these sidings still in place and you can see how the sidings were simplified and extended into the scrap yard from the traffic sidings.

 

I have a scrappy official diagram for the Derby - Birmingham line (a sidestrip) which is dated June 1969.

 

It's all very diagrammatic, but if you want me to redraw the sidings, I will.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[locoshed]

any help would be appreciated old-maps shows the sidings going back to 1888 and between 1923 and 1939 my track plan is almost correct, but then I have a big gap, I could try and find out when the scrap yard opened

[locoshed]

I`ve been doing some research and found that these would be some of the common trains passing Kingsbury 1959 on the Derby - Birmingham mainline;

 

Jubilee (passenger/inter-regional trains from S.W. Bristol/Cardiff/Bath - N.E. York/Leeds/Newcastle etc, sometimes hauling E or W stock)

The Devonian Saturdays Only ?

Black 5 (passenger/freight)

Crab (freight/beer from Burton-on-Trent)

B1 (through freight/passenger)

9F (freight/coal)

8F (coal/freight)

4F (coal/freight/working kingsbury sidings)

3F(coal/freight/working kingsbury sidings)

 

the odd

 

Standard 5MT

Standard 4MT 4-6-0

Super D

Fowler 4P 2-6-4T

Ivatt 2-6-2T

Johnson 2F 0-6-0

Ivatt 4MT 2-6-0

K3

 

But I don`t know if any of the following locos would have been seen or what pulled most of the local passenger trains

 

2P 4-4-0

4P 4-4-0

Jinty

Britannia

2-6-4T Stainer/Fairburn

WD 2-8-0

Unrebuilt patriot/R.S.

Rebuilt patriot/R.S.

Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0

Standard 4MT 2-6-0/2-6-4T

Class 40

Class 24

Class 20

V2